Release date: 2016-07-12
The Internet of Things, especially wearables, may not be as powerful as some current media reports, but it turns out that they may help Parkinson's patients. Two college students from the Department of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania have created a company to try to explore this possibility.
XEED's two founders, Sade Oba and Alfredo Muniz, grew up in Houston, Texas, and were neighbors. They had early admission to the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, they were interested in the application of technology in health-related fields. After going to college, Oba and Muniz had a whimsy and hoped to apply wearable devices to the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Oba studied mechanical engineering at the university, while Muniz studied electrical engineering.
Oba told me in an email: "As a person learning robotics, Alfred and I were developing a mobile smart home robot platform. But when we tried to bring this product to market, People didn't accept it very much... We decided to listen to the advice of the company's consultants, and finally took some small sensors from the robot and used them to accurately track the activity after the renovation."
People with Parkinson's disease always keep shaking their hands and can be controlled by drugs and physical therapy. However, this product helps to understand when these tremors occur and the doctor's judgment on the overall health of the patient.
XEED's wearable device is similar to a bracelet and can track the user's limbs throughout the day, paying attention to the duration and intensity of limb tremors and the range of their activities. The caregiver can then access this data, and they can also be sent to the smartphone app, which provides instant feedback, suggests activities or lets users track their progress.
In a video, Oba said: “Patients can capture this information and know exactly if they need to adjust their daily activities to improve their quality of life.†This data is very important to individuals and their physiotherapists and physicians. Useful, and once aggregated, can form a database that is of great value to researchers.
Xeedapp1 Muniz wrote in an e-mail to the TechCrunch website: "At the moment, we are working on a third prototype. We will divide 50 people into groups and let them undergo a two-week test. During the test, you will notice how they wear the device, whether the indicator is useful, whether they remember to charge, and what adjustments need to be made to the mobile app."
XEED devices may be close to the final design form, but if they want to go public, they still need to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be classified as an auxiliary medical device or a primary medical device. This means that XEED devices will take some time to deploy on a large scale—although small-scale research will certainly continue.
As for funding, Muniz and Oba have won the University of Pennsylvania's President's Innovation Prize last year and received a $200,000 award. It was with this high bonus that they were able to upgrade their product ideas and create new companies.
Muniz wrote: "Many investors have also contacted us. They said that if we encounter any difficulties, they are willing to lend a helping hand. We are currently seeking to obtain the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Health Research Institute (NIH) awards."
XEED has also partnered with a local Parkinson's Rehabilitation Center and will meet with the Michael J. Fox Foundation later this month to discuss potential collaborative projects.
Source: 23seed
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